tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post3466950641303506039..comments2017-12-13T20:47:32.016-05:00Comments on Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: THURSDAY, Aug. 30, 2007 - Victor Fleming and Bruce VenzkeRex Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145707733877505087noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-69546743862070763982007-10-11T14:02:00.000-04:002007-10-11T14:02:00.000-04:00Six weeks later, and I whole-heartedly agree that ...Six weeks later, and I whole-heartedly agree that this was much more Saturday-ish than Thursday. Dia was about the only answer I got right away, never watched Seinfeld and am not a big Connie or Doris fan...more CSNY, Doors and the Dead.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-18734433161951207502007-09-03T13:44:00.000-04:002007-09-03T13:44:00.000-04:00Indeed, if you took more than introductory chemist...Indeed, if you took more than introductory chemistry in college, muriatic should have been a gimme.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-28575771166511982352007-08-31T01:17:00.000-04:002007-08-31T01:17:00.000-04:00Yes, but sterile is seemingly always an adjective ...Yes, but sterile is seemingly always an adjective and I can't see the case for when neuter ever is. True, I'm operating on the assumption that the parts of speech ought to match, but I do think this is a broadly assumed convention. So I guess I'm still not buyin' it.Fergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-40033105570483936062007-08-31T00:48:00.000-04:002007-08-31T00:48:00.000-04:00Fergus,In zoology and botany a neuter can be an an...Fergus,<BR/><BR/>In zoology and botany a neuter can be an animal which is sterile because of undeveloped sexual organs. For example worker bees are neuters and sterile. Plants with neither stamens nor pistils are neuters. Also it can be used for an animal that is castrated: The neutered dog is a neuter.profphilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-87213391069579543712007-08-31T00:38:00.000-04:002007-08-31T00:38:00.000-04:00Anonymous,A Mortgagor is a lienee. Although most p...Anonymous,<BR/><BR/>A Mortgagor is a lienee. Although most people think it is the other way around. It took me years to get it straight. For example, if you own a home and borrow money from the bank and give your home as collatarol then you are mortgaging your home and therefore are the mortgagor. However, the lin is against your home and you are thus a lienee. The bank is the Mortgagee and the lienor.profphilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-77130681656303350772007-08-30T23:39:00.001-04:002007-08-30T23:39:00.001-04:00Just as yesterday's puzzle was like a Thursday, in...Just as yesterday's puzzle was like a Thursday, in that it had a rebus, but still took me a Wednesdayish time, today's puzzle looked very Friday, with the wide-open space, but still took me an average Thursday time. On the other hand, I've been improving lately, so my current average may be better than I think. :) I, too, had only one muri-tic square I couldn't figure out.Badirnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-73347000181506767892007-08-30T23:39:00.000-04:002007-08-30T23:39:00.000-04:00Just looked up why people pronounce SALCHOW as SOW...Just looked up why people pronounce SALCHOW as SOW-COW. Wikipedia says it's just bad pronunciation on our part. The originator of the jump was a Swede, Ulrich Salchow. <I>"Ulrich Salchow's surname was reportedly pronounced "sal-kov", but the name of the jump is invariably pronounced as either "sal-kow" (in North America) or "sal-koh" (in Europe).<BR/><BR/>Skaters sometimes abbreviate the name of the salchow to either sal or sow." </I>Kristen Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05724061202917213874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-62100086153054682662007-08-30T23:04:00.000-04:002007-08-30T23:04:00.000-04:00Watch TV with the closed captioning turned on and ...Watch TV with the closed captioning turned on and you learn how to spell all those eponymous sports terms. Me, I knew how to spell it but didn't really know it was pronounced "sowcow."<BR/><BR/>Nobody says "what in tarnation" any more unless it's in jest, but try saying it in jest every now and then to keep it alive. Next time you're about to type "WTF" online, opt for "What in tarnation?"Orangehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12433254398377357737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-995605397687799252007-08-30T21:30:00.000-04:002007-08-30T21:30:00.000-04:00Agreed. Definitely not medium. I got a total of fo...Agreed. Definitely not medium. I got a total of four clues on the first runthrough, and one of them turned out to be wrong (test seemed a perfectly logical follow on for beta). Hard, very hard. And I've still never heard of What in tarnation.Ceanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-25370766196936016582007-08-30T21:03:00.000-04:002007-08-30T21:03:00.000-04:00Doing these things for over 20 years... I felt lik...Doing these things for over 20 years... I felt like an idiot with this one.<BR/><BR/>I just kept staring at it and nothing came to me.<BR/><BR/>This felt much more like a Saturday puzzle then Thursday.<BR/><BR/>SALCHOW? Why does it always sound like "SOW COW" on TV?<BR/><BR/>And "tarnation" does anyone actually use that word anymore other then Yosemite Sam?oxfdbluewww.theforgottenborough.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-14057316409486365882007-08-30T17:29:00.000-04:002007-08-30T17:29:00.000-04:00Muriatic (hydrochloric) acid can be EXTREMELY CAUS...Muriatic (hydrochloric) acid can be EXTREMELY CAUSTIC AND TOXIC in nondilute solutions. It should be handled WITH EXTREME CARE. In high school chemistry, I splashed some on my lab apron and it ate right through the apron and my pants and burned my leg.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-38786239289428666872007-08-30T15:48:00.000-04:002007-08-30T15:48:00.000-04:00I ended up with "Hepp" as the clerk because I figu...I ended up with "Hepp" as the clerk because I figured "Opal" came before "Oscar" and "Orloff", and Netto seemsed like it could be some web service--sorta like lotto maybe? Twisted logic........also if you live in a very hard water area and your dishwasher gets calcium crusty, run it with some muriatic acid and you'll be good to go. (worked on stainless interior, maybe not a good idea for plastic?)trish in OPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-35074556903750780242007-08-30T15:18:00.000-04:002007-08-30T15:18:00.000-04:001. Had ESTRAGON for a long time and couldn't reme...1. Had ESTRAGON for a long time and couldn't remember the other one forever. TERRAGON? I feel like ESTRAGON is the name of an herb so I wanted the other to be an herb, too. Oh-- and people who teach english romantic poetry are not required to also know Beckett, or modernism, or plays. Different century, aesthetic, and form.<BR/><BR/>2. I didn't know ANY of the pop songs and so it took a long time to get them via crosses. Which is why my Nana still beats the pants off me doing the NYT xword.<BR/><BR/>3. Never heard of either VEAL dish. <BR/><BR/>4. My only gimme besides DIA, NEWMAN and EXHUME was HEEP, because he showed up yesterday and I knew the name from the rock band (only learned from the puzzle that he was some sort of Dickensian Bartleby). <BR/><BR/>5. Have indeed seen Nisan as Nissan. But try googling Hannukah, for example, and you'll see the thorniness of transliteration at work.flailernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-46205828367949779512007-08-30T15:15:00.000-04:002007-08-30T15:15:00.000-04:00The procedure to sterilize a male dog is a neuteri...The procedure to sterilize a male dog is a neutering (females get spayed). I think the tenses may be off in neuter/sterile (neutered/sterile seems correct to me), but my degrees are in biochem (thought muriatic was a gimme) and medicine. I have trouble following the "gerund" discussions on this blog.johnsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-58446760853750984802007-08-30T14:47:00.000-04:002007-08-30T14:47:00.000-04:00Uriah Heep will get his comeuppance once again if ...Uriah Heep will get his comeuppance once again if he keeps showing up so ingratiatingly. I recall him being described as having damp, oily fingers. The band by the same name was around before 1970 -- there was also a contemporaneous band called Humble Pie, which must have borne some relation, Master Heep being ever so 'umble'... . They (both) were already past their prime as I became a teenager that year, when I had a preference for the wild hard rock of Deep Purple.<BR/><BR/>Beckett gave Vladimir and Estragon the same number of letters for the express purpose of confounding crossword solvers. Saw Godot when I was thirteen, too, and just starting to get comfortable with an indifferent cosmos.<BR/><BR/>This was a demanding and difficult puzzle, I thought, since I took the bait on some of the misdirection. Secure for ENSURE, e.g. Crossing EXHUME with EXHILARATE suggests something much creepier than unctuous Uriah. And the Sterile NEUTER combination will not sit well until anyone can show how these words can be used interchangeably.Fergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17056002311944010536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-32611738382146608312007-08-30T14:26:00.000-04:002007-08-30T14:26:00.000-04:00Fairly enjoyable until had to work out 46 down for...Fairly enjoyable until had to work out 46 down for which the answer in the puzzle is WRONG. A MORTGAGOR is a LIENOR not a LIENEE. A LIENEE would be a MORTGAGEE. Definitely slowed up that quadrant until I worked out the mistake - thought I had to be wrong not the puzzle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-2698863973020259152007-08-30T14:01:00.000-04:002007-08-30T14:01:00.000-04:00Mary was a terrible cook. Sue Ann made the dish a...Mary was a terrible cook. Sue Ann made the dish and let Mary pretend it was hers.jaenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-20747886762178844202007-08-30T13:53:00.000-04:002007-08-30T13:53:00.000-04:00Ah yes, "The Dinner Party," which according to imd...Ah yes, "The Dinner Party," which according to imdb aired Nov. 17, 1973. Those were the days, weren't they? I, like all of Mary's hapless guests, always dreaded the times when she entertained because the goings on always descended into ludicrousness. <BR/>Yes, it was *Prince* Orloff. Didn't Sue Ann Nivens (the inimitable Betty White) help her make it?Wendynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-6180632206512737632007-08-30T13:35:00.000-04:002007-08-30T13:35:00.000-04:00Whoops, I meant "speaking of sitcoms"...Whoops, I meant "speaking of sitcoms"...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-2078030790983964272007-08-30T13:34:00.000-04:002007-08-30T13:34:00.000-04:00I remember that Mary Tyler Moore episode, but I th...I remember that Mary Tyler Moore episode, but I think they called it Veal PRINCE Orloff.<BR/><BR/>Speaking of crosswords, Rex Parker, how could you not like Seinfeld?!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-50745111051175684802007-08-30T13:25:00.000-04:002007-08-30T13:25:00.000-04:00Looked up both Veal Orloff and Veal Oscar in OLD c...Looked up both Veal Orloff and Veal Oscar in OLD cookbooks. Orloff is roast veal, sliced, each slice slathered with a sauce, and reassembled to look like the whole roast. I guess there's a TADA moment when it is served. Oscar is sauteed veal cutlets topped with asparagus, crab meat and bearnaise sauce. UGH.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-21274452570424185292007-08-30T13:11:00.001-04:002007-08-30T13:11:00.001-04:00I remember Mary Tyler Moore preparing Veal Orlof f...I remember Mary Tyler Moore preparing Veal Orlof for a dinner party and the guests kept multiplying, so she had to ration the servings. Hilarity ensued. Great puzzle.Tadpodhttp://tadpod.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-4699844388935371832007-08-30T13:11:00.000-04:002007-08-30T13:11:00.000-04:00Muriatic acid is what you're likely to find in the...Muriatic acid is what you're likely to find in the hardware store. It's used for many purposes including cleaning/etching concrete. I expect that if you ask the hardware clerk for "hydrochloric acid" you'd likely get a blank stare. (Of course, that's what you'll always get at a big box store. ;-)Spencerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00884188052527454989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-60749187512317437542007-08-30T13:10:00.000-04:002007-08-30T13:10:00.000-04:00If you're publicizing an event or writing it up af...If you're publicizing an event or writing it up afterwards, you have to be really careful to be accurate about WHO, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN, but not necessarily WHY, which may provide more subjective information. So I like the four W choices here.<BR/><BR/>It qualifies for Thursday because it fell into place once the theme emerged, but getting to the theme was tough. I was in a doctor's waiting room without the crutch of even a dictionary, but at least I was absorbed for the long wait.<BR/><BR/>I came home with MURI-TIC and LI-. Never heard of either.Suenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35115061.post-27437451625081784452007-08-30T12:46:00.000-04:002007-08-30T12:46:00.000-04:00I agree with howard b, this seemed more Friday tha...I agree with howard b, this seemed more Friday than Thursday as there were an awful lot of unknowns. That said, the two song titles were gimmies as were DELRAY, MURIATIC,EERO, AARE (from lots of recent exposure) and YSER (same reason). NEUTER seemed a bit off to me also. I knew SALCHOW but not how to spell it, so I needed the crosses. Speaking of which, the clue for ASHE was definitely more Fri/Sat than Thurs.jaenoreply@blogger.com